


Veela Does Not Mean Evil

by SerenePandemonium



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Fleur Delacour, Dubious Consent, F/F, F/M, How Do I Tag, Racism, Sexism, and it's not explicit, exploring veela culture, it's not bill and fleur, towards veela, vila is the superior spelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-31 00:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19038844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerenePandemonium/pseuds/SerenePandemonium
Summary: At four years old, Fleur doesn’t know what being Vila means to the Wixen world. She just knows who she wants to be. She wants to be just like her maman.





	Veela Does Not Mean Evil

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I started writing this earlier today and this is the fastest I've ever written and posted anything so sorry if there's any mistakes. Last night I suddenly became really attached to the idea of Fleur being asexual like me and I kind of projected onto her. Just to be clear though, none of the stuff in Fleur's first relationship happened to me. And then I discovered that there was basically no content for ace!Fleur so I made my own. And then it also became an exploration of Veela culture and racism and sexism towards Veela through Fleur's life.
> 
> I use the French terms for Fleur's family members because I thought it would sound more personal. I don't speak French and got it from google translate so apologies if it's incorrect. I used the Bulgarian word for grandma because Veela are based on the South Slavic Vila.
> 
> I read that moldu is the French translation of muggle and I kind of prefer that so? Yeah.  
> And I've also decided that Europeans spell it Vila and it's only Veela in the UK.
> 
> Please comment what you think. I really like getting feedback.

At four years old, Fleur doesn’t know what being Vila means to the Wixen world. She just knows who she wants to be. She wants to be just like her maman and bába and tantes and cousines. Strong and kind and fearless and warm and beautiful. Beautiful in all the ways she knows how. Beautiful in the way her maman sings to her and her siblings. Beautiful in the way her bába sways like the trees when she dances with her sisters. Beautiful in the way her cousines make the shapes of animals with their fire for her and her brother and sister to play with. Beautiful in the way maman’s fingers and face and clothes are always stained with her paints. Beautiful in the way Fleur can feel the wind on her face and see France all around her when bába takes her into her arms and flies. Beautiful in the way of her family.

When she is six her big sister goes to Beauxbatons. When Nadia comes back for Yule, she seems sadder. She looks lost. When Fleur asks why, maman says some people do not like the way their family is. Fleur does not understand. Her family is the best family there ever was! Maman reads stories to her when she asks and shows her how to braid her hair and plays games outside with her when Nadia and Jérémie didn’t want to. And papa takes her into the moldu world and tells her stories about growing up there and teaches her how to do moldu things. Bába always has things to tell her about her heritage and she teaches her how to control her Vila magic and takes her hiking and gives the best hugs. Who wouldn’t like that?

She’s ten years old when her bába stands in front of her and plucks a hair from her own head. Places it in Fleur’s hands. Tells her what it means to have a Vila hair wand. That she must uphold her ancestor’s traditions and represent her people. Show people why Vila are proud creatures. Not because they’re vain but because they are fierce and loyal and vibrant. And above all they are protectors and healers. Fleur cannot transform but she can throw fire and move earth and bring whirlwinds and create waves. She can heal cuts and bruises and broken bones with a touch of her hands. She is told that with this wand she can achieve so much for herself and her bába and tantes and cousines. She finds that she really wants to try.

She is still ten years old when she goes to Beauxbatons. She is still ten years old when she first experiences how people don’t like her family. When she first realises what it means to be Vila in the Wixen world. Her family warned her about this. Told her people wouldn’t understand. Would look down on her for who her family was. Fleur didn’t understand then. She does now. “Vila are disgusting,” they whisper, saying the name of her people like it’s sickening, “Vila are evil,” they spit, saying the name of her people like it’s dirty. They are older than her, but they don’t know better. Her bába isn’t disgusting or evil. So she does what she can. She avoids the people who say things like that, she doesn’t make friends with people she doesn’t already know. Sticks to the people in her year who have yet to be shaped by the prejudices of others. She tells Nadia and Jérémie and they look at her with sad eyes and hug her tight. She hopes bébé Gabrielle and bébé Valentin never have to hear those words.

Twelve is when the first boy approaches her. His eyes are glazed, and his mouth hangs open. Fleur knows that look. It’s the same one people direct at her maman. She knows that he cannot help it, not really, not when he doesn’t know how. Still, it makes her want to crawl right out of her skin. She says no. He does not speak to her after that. People gossip, say that she’s too stuck up to date him. She just does not want to, and isn’t it her right to say no? Twelve is too young to be thinking about boyfriends, anyway. She needs to focus on her studies if she wants to get to the top of her class.

By fifteen so many boys, and even girls, have come to her looking for a date and she eventually gives in to the next boy to ask twice. If he has the determination to ask more than once, then surely that means he sees more in her than just her looks? He’s nice enough, funny, and he has pretty eyes. They go to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and it’s lovely. He smiles and kisses her at the end of the day and it’s nice. It isn’t until two months into the relationship that she realises something. It’s different to the way her friends talk about boys. She doesn’t understand why they want to do more than kiss their boyfriends. Kissing is wonderful and cuddling is even better. They say that she’ll understand eventually. She just needs to try it first. Four months after that he starts talking about going further than they have. She is reluctant, she doesn’t think she will enjoy it as much as he says. She just has no desire to do anything like that with him. She says no, and that’s that. For a few weeks. He asks again, she is still not interested but she thinks that maybe she should just try for him. She loves him. This is something people who love each other do, right? So, they do. She does not enjoy it. It’s not that she hates it, she’s just… indifferent. She even feels vaguely nauseous at times. She says as much. He says it’ll be better next time; they just need to practice. She puts off doing it again for two weeks, but he eventually talks her into doing it again. The next time she tells him she did not like it. She tells him why. He tells her she’s a Vila and that means she should get use to it. She’s angry at that. He says she’ll get use to it. But she loves him, so maybe he’s right. She stops loving him not long after.

She has just reached sixteen when they break up. She can’t handle it anymore. She hates being with him. Every time they are together, she feels more and more nauseous until everything they do is tainted by it. Every time he holds her hand, touches her face, kisses her lips, she wants to throw up. Her muscles tense and she wants to pull away. She can feel him on her at every moment and she can’t scrub hard enough to make her skin stop crawling. Fleur is not the one who ends the relationship. He accuses her of cheating on him, says that the only reason she hates sleeping with him is because she feels guilty for being with someone else. She denies it, says that she doesn’t feel that way about anyone. He laughs in her face; he says that she’s a Vila so that must be a lie because all Vila are sluts. She hexes him for that, and they duel. He ends up in the hospital wing for two weeks and she can’t bring herself to feel bad about it. Madame Maxime is very understanding, especially when she gets to what he said about Vila. It’s an open secret within the school that Olympe Maxime is more than human; she would never stand for such insults.

Fleur is half-way between sixteen and seventeen when she finds the word for her. Asexual. She is relieved that there is a word for her. She was beginning to think she was just broken. She thought she might be a lesbian for a while, but she didn’t feel those feelings for girls either. She just thought they were beautiful. But her best friend is the most beautiful girl. Félicité, with hair the colour of her wand’s wood and eyes like the forest Fleur’s family lives in. And then Félicité kisses her, soft and quick, under the stars in the astronomy tower. Fleur tells her how she feels about her. And how she doesn’t feel about her. Félicité kisses her again, longer but still just as soft. She smiles and says she’s okay with that, she wouldn’t want anything to change about Fleur. Fleur’s heart bursts at those words.

After her name comes out of the Goblet of Fire, she turns eighteen. Fleur spends time with Félicité, and they visit the Abraxans before sitting by the Great Lake. Félicité gives her a ring and her eyes shine as it slides onto Fleur’s finger. She is eighteen when she gets engaged. She is eighteen when she enters the First Task and faces a fully-grown mother dragon with a nest of eggs. Fleur tries to keep it away from the nest as she enchants it to sleep and is sure to be careful with the eggs when she retrieves the golden one. Unfortunately, the dragon breathes fire in its sleep and her skirt catches fire. The judges score her poorly for that even though she thought she did better than Viktor. At least she didn’t cause harm to any of the precious eggs. She doesn’t say anything to the judges about bias though Félicité and Madame Maxime quietly agree with her assessment. Fleur is eighteen when she goes to the Yule Ball with Félicité, but they are not allowed to perform the opening dance with each other. Fleur is furious but Félicité accepts it and tells her they will have the rest of their lives to dance together.

She is eighteen when sweet Gabrielle is taken. She feels rage at what they have done. She knows what her maman would do. Fleur flies through the water to reach her sister in time. The biggest obstacle she comes to is the Grindylows that she deals with easily enough by sending a powerful jinx at them that she had been practicing for this very occasion. She reaches the hostages second and Harry is there holding his friend and trying to free her sister. Fleur feels a surge of gratitude at this gesture and hugs him before cutting away the rope on her sister. She notices that he is still there and looks at him questioningly. He gestures to the other hostages and she realises that he intends to wait for the others in case they cannot rescue their girlfriends. It is something she should have thought of, so she stays to see if he will need help. It isn’t necessary as Cedric and Viktor soon show up. Harry waves her on as Cedric takes off and he moves to help Viktor free the girl. Assured that they are okay Fleur propels herself forward, slower than before with the added weight of her sister, and surfaces minutes after Cedric. It turns out she needn’t have worried so much. Gabrielle was never in any danger of dying. It would have been helpful to know that so that she didn’t waste time waiting for all of the hostages to be saved. At least that earned her extra points though.

She is eighteen when Harry Potter comes back with Cedric Diggory’s body. She is eighteen when Voldemort returns. She is eighteen when she knows she will fight in a war. This is why she chooses to go back to England after the summer. Félicité wants no part of it and they both understand that neither of them will give in. It looks like they won’t have the rest of their lives to dance together, after all. Fleur is the one to voice it and they part ways with promises to remain friends. She is still heartbroken when she officially meets Bill Weasley. He is good, and he does not look at her the way that most others do. They become close friends before long. She calls him Guillaume and he calls her Flora. A few months later, while they are sitting on Fleur’s living room floor and laughing at a story from her childhood, he looks at her and she knows what comes next. It’s the same way Félicité looked at her. And though her heart still hurts for Félicité, she thinks that she is ready. She knows Bill, and he knows her. It’s suddenly the easiest thing in the world.

Nineteen years old and already engaged twice. She takes Bill to France with her for the beginning of summer and he meets her family. It takes some time for them to warm up to him. They are still suspicious of any boys she spends time with, after last time. By the end of it, Bill is joking with Nadia and Jérémie like old friends and maman and papa hug him like one of their own. Bába tells him to behave himself and be good to Fleur. Meeting the Weasley’s does not go as well. They do not like her, and she is wary of them. She knows that female Vila can grate on human women and she hopes that this is the only problem and that they will come around eventually. Bill says they will. She also knows how she can come across. It’s not that she minds the Burrow. She quiet adores it, really. It’s just so cluttered that it feels uncomfortable. Her favourite Weasleys, aside from Bill, are by far Fred and George. They make her laugh more than anyone else, and they don’t treat her any differently for her mixed heritage. She thinks she would like to visit their shop when it opens.

She is twenty when she joins her first battle of this war. It is frightening and she wishes that she could hide from it, but Vila never run away from anything. Not even fiancés who might be more wolfish than before, or their mothers who think some new scars will matter to her. There is more to relationships than physical attractiveness. She does not want to put her sexuality on display to get her point across or win anyone over, so she doesn’t. It isn’t any of their business what her and Bill do or don’t do together. She is glad when Molly warms up to her slightly at that, but it still hurts that she would think such a thing about her or doubt her love for Bill. It’s an assumption everyone makes, and she is done with all of it. She may need to do something about Vila rights if they win this war.

Her wedding is amazing. It is so beautiful and lively and she’s so happy. She’s happy that her maman, papa, brothers, sisters, tantes, cousines, and even Félicité is there. And when Félicité smiles at her it feels like closing a chapter. She’s even happier that her bába could be here for it. Not long into the reception her bába sweeps her into her arms and twirls them around. Bába sways them like the trees and tells Fleur how proud she is. Fleur thinks her own face is going to split she’s smiling so wide and there are tears in her eyes. Making her bába proud is all she’s ever wanted. It’s too bad the happiness does not last and while Bill and Fleur are dancing again everything turns to chaos. And Fleur is there in the middle of it, flinging spells at every Death Eater she sees with righteous fury, wielding her wand with one hand and throwing fireball after fireball with the other. No one is going to ruin her wedding day and get away with it. She puts up a fight but one of them gets in a shot from behind while Bill is distracted from watching her back. The others are subdued quickly, and they are rounded up by the Death Eaters. Fleur is twenty the first time she experiences interrogation under the Cruciatus Curse. She is also twenty the first time she gets up from the Cruciatus Curse and breaks a Death Eater’s nose with her fist.

Her family stays with her and Bill at Shell Cottage until her twenty-first birthday. They need to go back to France where it is safer. They don’t like that she is staying, but she must. This is her home now, the Weasley’s are her family too now. There are several raids that go back and forth between the Order and the Death Eaters. Fleur participates in every planned attack on the enemy and Bill is all too happy to join her. After Harry, Ron, and Hermione stay with them they are more than prepared for the final call to battle. It’s been a long time coming. It’s a long and difficult fight and by the end of it they’ve all lost someone. Fleur holds Bill’s hand as he and Charlie lean on one another and cry for Fred. She tries to hold back her tears; she needs to be strong for her Guillaume. Fred was his brother, not hers. But she fails, because she considered him a brother to her, too.

And a year later, when Fleur is twenty-two and holding her newborn daughter in her arms, it is easy to name her Victoire Frédérique Weasley. She looks down at this little girl who has only been alive for five minutes and is already the person she loves most in this world. She is reminded of the words she first heard spoken so many years ago, and has heard so many times since, and wonders how anyone would think that someone so perfect could have even a drop of evil in her. Fleur has seen evil and this precious child comes nowhere close to it. She looks down and thinks that it was all worth it just for Victoire to be alive in a world free from the darkness of war and the evil of a madman.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah I think I'm going to keep building my own interpretation of Veela culture and maybe explore it more in other fics. These fics will probably involve asexual Fleur because I like combating Veela stereotypes I guess. Plus this has been really good for me I think this is the most passionate I've gotten about one of my fanfics so I guess I'll be writing more about things that I can actually relate to from now on.
> 
> Fleur is now one of my favourite characters and if you wanna chat about her just let me know because I'd love to build new headcanons.


End file.
